This was a surprising shock…but a welcome one. After some very troubling comments by showrunners prior to release, the Last of Us HBO show was surprisingly pretty decent adaptation of the great video game.
First off, let me just say this right away: the Last of Us HBO T.V. show is nowhere near as good as the Game of the Year winning video game. To be honest, it’s not even in the same ballpark as the nostalgic, beautiful yet horrifyingly creepy atmosphere and feel the game exuded is not present in the TV series.
Yet, that’s something I knew was going to happen and won’t criticize the showrunners for. It’s almost impossible to adapt a video game into a TV series as the very nature of interactive, player-driven storytelling in the video game medium is simply unavailable for television makers and producers. You can’t have the freedom a video game offers in a TV show’s plot as it is not only practically impossible, but also would make for a dreadful story.
With every gamer comes a different style of gameplay as some people like to read all available in-world lore items, some like to breeze through the main story, some like to sneak around enemies, some like to confront enemies head on, and some like to be completionist/perfectionists and pick up every little knick-knack they can find.
That’s obviously impossible to recreate in the television medium.
Now, Naughty Dog’s games are best suited for television adaptations out of most Triple-A games as their cinematic cutscenes are very similar to the small screen, but the little gameplay aspects like I mentioned (i.e.: having Joel pick up every single item from each chapter) is a pure player choice and would require millions of individualized scenes. And, like I said, that’s just an impracticality that will always be lost in the translation of video game to television, thus ruining the nostalgia.
(HBO-The Last of US-Official Trailer)
Nevertheless, as for the characters, plot, set design, etc., I thought everything was really good.
Personally, I loved the changes made to the opening cutscene with Joel, Tommy, Sarah, and Austin as the show not only expands upon Sarah’s character and makes her all that much more likable, but it also gives us a glimpse into the life Joel, Sarah, and Tommy had before the Cordyceps plague outbreak ruined their lives.
Moreover, I really liked the recreation of post-Cordyceps Boston as the despair, order, government control, and underworld dealings were far more realistic and expanded upon than in the game.
Obviously, the game’s introduction was great for its time, but the show makes Boston really feel like a stranded former major city struggling to ward off the Cordyceps infection from destroying it and dooming yet another last vestige of civilization and humanity. Plus, the massive wall was a great touch as that is the most realistic thing humanity would do to keep out such a nemesis.
As for the characters and actors, I thought they were all great.
Pedro Pascal was fantastic as the brooding, dark, and depressed Joel, Gabriel Luna was a great Tommy, Nico Parker was a brilliant Sarah (it’s sad she only got 20 minutes or so to play the character), Anna Torv was as brutal and ruthless as the Tess we all know and love, Merle Dandridge was obviously amazing as Marlene (she did voice her in the original game, after all), and Bella Ramsey…was very believable as Ellie.
To be honest, I think her performance was the best out of everyone’s as she definitely won me over to her side (for now) as a believable iteration of a grittier, grounded Ellie. Sure, the game featured a (lack for a better world) stylized/fancier version of Ellie, Joel, Tommy, Tess, post-Cordyceps Boston, etc. and I’ve grown accustomed to looking at that iteration of the universe, but this one is definitely good too.
None of the actors are ugly or unpleasant to look at by any stretch of the imagination, but they just have a “grimier”/”hardened” feel to them the game lacked…and that’s okay.
This is what adaptations are all about as the new directors and creators may have visual and stylistic tone differences from the original directors and creators. A lot of modern Hollywood shows and movies could learn a thing or two from HBO about how to adapt properly (except for Velma as they should completely ignore that abomination).
(HBO-The Last of US-Official Trailer)
Anywho, the plot additions were okay as the hours of gameplay needed to be replaced with filler and backstory to make this a functional TV show, but it was still a little strange seeing some things play out far differently than they did in the video game (ex: Joel and Ellie first meeting, Robert vs. Joel and Tess fight, and the escape from Boston).
Still, if there’s one major criticism I have for the show it’s that there’s too much filler swearing. I know I might sound like some 80-year-old nun right now, but it always brings me out of the moment when the characters start swearing mid-conversation for no reason. Swearing when necessary is okay but doing it just to make a character sound edgy and “dramatic” is one of the worst things a writer can do.
The Last of Us Episode 1 gets a solid 8.2/10 from me.
Images Source: Featured Image: (HBO) (The Last of Us | Official Trailer | HBO Max – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (HBO) (The Last of Us | Official Trailer | HBO Max – YouTube)
In Text Image 2: (HBO) (The Last of Us | Official Trailer | HBO Max – YouTube)
